www.talkcyprus.org

[Dhavlos]

i think that if we dont use english in schools as the 'main language', then you ahve the problem of what language to use...greek or turkish? You cant split the children up in lessons...that just creates division.

In Kenya, most people dont use english as a common language...but from primary schools it is used as the language to teach people in, so that anyone can attend any school, and laern, not hvae to be selective in the language they use to teach in....it works perfectly well.

[cypezokyli]

davlos

you dont have to divide kids. thats is, considering a school tha has both Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots. you just divide classes in different languages and then you can change it after a while. eg. first year math in greek, history in turkish, and then vise-versa.

i do not know, somehow i would like my children to be able to communicate with their compatriots, in turkish and not in english like i do.

as i posted before, for this to happen one has to take advantage of the kindergarten age - that is the age where children have unbelievable abilities in learning languages. in this age they are more "clever" than adults in learning languages. it works exactly on the same principle as bilingual kids that are from mixed marriages. they learn two languages without much diffieculties.

if we miss that age and try to mix them at highschool, then i would agree to use the english language.

[Dhavlos]

all im saying is that teaching them in english would get rid of the petty arguements that are going to entail teaching them in greek and turksih....'why should my child be taught in greek' , 'turkish shouldnt be used cos its only spoken by a few people' , 'why should maths be in greek and biology in turkish' ...blahblahblah....

I understand what you mean with the communication thing...but if they are taught greek and turkish, and in the playground they will be able to communicate with each other...maybe if we had a few selected lessons in both languages...say maths lessons to be in turkish and one in greek for at least 2hours a week, and the rest in english? or just say, some lessons in greek, some in turksih, and some in englsih

[depurple]

Lets Vote on IT!
But there isn't one that Says I am Greek? Cypriot and want to learn Turkish & English!

English will take over in a few years: I have been to China about 10 times; the first time 1978 and the last time a few months ago MAN have they learnt English OR WHAT!

[cypezokyli]

petty arguments are always a problem.

i believe that parents should agree beforehand with the rules set by the school therefore there is no arguement. i also believe that if a parent decides to send his kid in such a school he would know what it will be about.


as for your proposal davlos ... i like it .

depurple, i also agree that the english language is a necessity. but that doesn tmean we should forget our own :wink:

[depurple]

Because of the Hollywood movies and the music industry English has taken off and we must try to involve it in our everyday education either by weekly lessons or by private tutoring:
I think the only country in the world who does not except English is the French BUT I am sure everyone else does:

[cypezokyli]

almost all french i ve met can speak english

[Dhavlos]

yeh ,but they dont like you to speak french....they are so rude sometimes!

[depurple]

Hey its easy to speak french all you got to do is put a LA in front of everything: When I was in Paris recently I asked for bread and I said LA Bread, LA Butter, LA Drink and the person behind the counter said to me IF I wasn't Cypriots you would eat LA S**T!
So there goes my French lesson:
I had a French girlfriend in Cyprus in 1980 for 2 months and all she taught me was 69 ways to make love and we didn't even speak a word!
Amazing!